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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27364396">The Criminal Record of Ianto Jones</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/hotchocolatedictator/pseuds/hotchocolatedictator'>hotchocolatedictator</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Works inspired by Time Tracks [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Torchwood</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 16:27:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,418</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27364396</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/hotchocolatedictator/pseuds/hotchocolatedictator</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Torchwood finally finds some evidence of where Ianto ended up. As it turns out, he got arrested in 1873.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Works inspired by Time Tracks [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1998697</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>46</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. 2007</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">


        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24840772">Time Tracks</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cyborgtamaki/pseuds/Cyborgtamaki">Cyborgtamaki</a>, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/thirteeninafez/pseuds/thirteeninafez">thirteeninafez</a>.
        </li>

    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Yep, this is once again inspired by Time Tracks because apparently I can't get it out of my head</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It had been a week, and Jack was no less frantic than he had been upon learning Ianto had vanished.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Whenever they weren’t doing something else, he got the team to focus on finding anything that could help to find him again. The lack of information didn’t help - the Rift could have sent him anywhere, anywhen. If Ianto had ended up in the future, or on another planet, there was no way they’d be able to try and get him back.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It took hours of scouring every source of information they could think of before they found their first sign of Ianto. Tosh found, of all things, an article from the Metro, 2006, headlined ‘BBC VAN STOLEN BY UNKNOWN YOUNG MAN’. A few minutes later, there was a gasp, followed by a call for the rest of the team to come look.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘What is it?’ Gwen asked, coming to peer over Tosh’s shoulder at the screen.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘Look,’ Tosh answered.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The three Torchwood operatives read through the article in mild confusion. It was about a young man who had, on the Day of the Space pigs, run out of 10 Downing Street, hot wired a BBC van and driven off. His name and whereabouts were unknown.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘What’s this got to do with-’</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>An image came up. The van swerving down Downing Street, an all too familiar face in the driver’s seat.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘Ianto,’ Jack breathed.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘He stole a BBC van?!’</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘Why?’</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘What was he doing in Downing Street?’</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>After a moment of silence, they all started speaking at once, their voices overlapping. It took a good five minutes to restore order, once they all realised that standing around asking questions wasn’t actually amazingly helpful.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘Okay, so,’ Jack started loudly, effectively quieting the last murmurs of ‘he stole a </span>
  <em>
    <span>BBC van</span>
  </em>
  <span>’, ‘8th of March, 2006, Ianto was at 10 Downing Street, a few hours before it blew up. Who else was there?’</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘On it,’ Tosh answered, already pulling up a new page on her screen.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘Rest of you, back to work.’</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Grumbling slightly about how Ianto stealing BBC vans was more interesting than paperwork, Owen and Gwen headed back to their workstations, and work proceeded about as normally as it could (apart from some disturbance from Jack’s office, but that was to be expected).</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘Found anything yet?’</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tosh nodded and looked up at Jack, who had finally emerged from his office.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘Some of the records seem to have been wiped, and whoever did it knew what they were doing. There’s still a bit, though - there were some UNIT officers and Torchwood One members, various people who died in the explosion and turned out to be aliens, some police. And Ianto, of course.’</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘He couldn’t have rejoined Torchwood One, could he?’ Gwen offered from her workstation.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Jack shook his head. ‘No, he’d be crossing his own timeline doing that.’</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘He used his Torchwood ID to get in though, so he probably isn’t with any of the other organisations.’</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘Keep looking. At least we know he’s in 2006 now.’</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Next time, it was Gwen who found it, even though she hadn’t been looking for it. She’d been searching through some old records to try and find mentions of an alien that had fallen through the Rift recently, which she had reason to believe had also shown up in the late 19th century, and had stumbled across a prison record.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Five minutes later she burst into the main Hub, clutching the paper excitedly and calling for the rest of the team.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘Look what I found!’</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Owen took the paper from her and began to read it aloud.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘Reported to the Secretary of State, 1873. Particulars of a person convicted of a crime specified in the 20th section of the Prevention of Crimes Act, 1871.’ He looked up from the paper and asked, ‘A prison record?’</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘Just keep going,’ said Gwen.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘Name and aliases, Ianto Jones.’</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘Wait, did you just say-’ interrupted Jack.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘Yep!’ Gwen exclaimed gleefully.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘Are you sure it’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>our </span>
  </em>
  <span>Ianto?’ Tosh asked, ‘It’s not exactly an unusual name.’</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘Look at the picture,’ Owen said, holding out the record to the rest of the team.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Underneath the heading ‘Photograph of Prisoner’ was a faded sepia photo of Ianto Jones, dressed in a frock coat and looking not particularly happy with his situation. If that wasn’t enough, the description of him next to the photo matched the Ianto they knew perfectly, even down to ‘distinguishing marks’, which described a scar across his arm from a disastrous weevil hunting trip.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Beneath that, however, the paper was illegible, the writing smudged and blurred and faded until the paper crumbled into nothing about three centimetres from where the bottom of the page should be.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘He got arrested?’</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘In 1873?’</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘Is he just running around time causing trouble?’ Owen put in, ‘2006, and now this.’</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘What did he get arrested for?’ Tosh asked.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘Don’t know. The writing’s unreadable,’ Gwen replied.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘I bet you he was hot wiring vans again,’ Owen said.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘They didn’t have vans in 1873,’ Jack pointed out, ‘Cars weren’t invented until the 1880s.’</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘Still think he could’ve gotten arrested for stealing a van. You never said <em>they</em> weren’t invented then.’</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘A horse and cart would be easier,’ Tosh offered.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘What about a boat?’ Jack added, grinning, ‘Ianto sailing a boat - now that I’d like to see.’</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘Or a train,’ Tosh continued, ‘for some speed.’</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘Gwen, what do you reckon it was?’</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Gwen thought for a moment, before saying, ‘Does it really matter whether Ianto stole a car in the 1870s if he’s not meant to be in the 1870s either?’</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘Yes!’ Jack and Tosh answered simultaneously, drowning out Owen’s ‘thank you’. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘People can time travel, you see,’ Jack started, ‘but they can’t change things, or it messes up history.’</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘The timelines would change. We’re currently in a timeline where cars were invented in 1885, but if Ianto somehow found a car in 1873, that would create a new timeline where cars were invented earlier,’ Tosh continued.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘And that could have a knock-on effect, because who knows what people would have done with cars in those twelve years,’ finished Jack.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘Alright, alright,’ Gwen said, hands up in mock surrender, ‘it was just a question. In that case, I think it was a horse and cart.’</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘Owen? Are you going to change your mind?’ Jack asked with a grin.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘Tenner says it was still a van.’</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>‘Okay, a tenner to whoever had the closest guess if we find out what he actually did.’</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>With its usual irritating timing, something appeared on the Rift monitor, and the conversation came to a halt.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Later, sitting alone in his office with the yellowing paper, Jack turned his mind to the other obvious problem with the record - how had Ianto ended up in 1873, when he’d last been heard of in 2006? There was no way he could have done like Jack and lived through the whole of the 20th century, so he must have found a shortcut. Had he found himself a vortex manipulator? Or even better, the Doctor?</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Jack mulled the issue over, but with no way to get an actual answer he eventually dropped it, leaving it to figure out later, when he had more information.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Whatever Ianto had done, he seemed to be doing fine for now. Jack only hoped he stayed that way long enough to get back to him.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. 1873</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ianto scowled as a grinning Jack led him away from the prison, and back towards the TARDIS.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Don’t say a word.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Oh come on, that’s no way to treat someone who just paid your bail,’ Jack joked.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Ianto just glared at the smile spread across his face, if a bit half-heartedly. It was a rather nice smile, after all. No point in wasting it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘And anyway, there’s no need to be embarrassed that you got nicked stealing a…’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>Don’t say it don’t say it don’t say it.</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Blanket.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Ianto groaned at the reminder. ‘It was a hard blanket to steal! And 1873’s different from the 21st century, the police work differently!’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Harder than a BBC van?’ Jack teased, and Ianto rolled his eyes, smiling a little.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Hey,’ Jack said, a couple of minutes later, ‘I got you something.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He opened a parcel he’d been carrying under one arm, to show nothing less than the very blanket Ianto had been arrested for stealing.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘You stole the blanket?’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I bought the blanket. More expensive, but they can’t lock you up for it.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Ianto chuckled. ‘Thanks, Jack.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘No problem.’</p>
<p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hope you enjoyed it!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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